The grand winner of the Bird Poetry Contest 2022 is:

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EMMA WELLS – CARBONITO DE SOPHIE

Emma is a mother and English teacher. She has poetry published with various literary journals and magazines. She enjoys writing flash fiction and short stories also. Her debut novel, Shelley’s Sisterhood, is due to be published in 2022.

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The first runner-up is:

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TED ORBACH – EAGLE

Ted Orbach is a writer and musician from New Jersey. He releases music under the name possum in my room and words on his blog, tedopoems.wordpress.com. He is still trying to see the world with childlike wonder.

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The second runner-up is:

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GERARD FUREY – FUNERAL TIDING

Gerard Furey was Raised in Pittsburgh, PA where he had a standard ’50s -’60’s upbringing. He taught high school literature classes for 40 years. In the 90’s he wrote film reviews for the Irish American Cultural Institute, and had short stories in AMBIT (UK), PITTSBURGH, ST. ANTHONY MESSENGER, NORTH ATLANTIC REVIEW, and other magazines

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Cue the confetti for our top finalists:

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SANKET MHATRE – INK OF A BIRDSONG

Sanket Mhatre has been featured at Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, Jaipur Literature Festival and Glass House Poetry Festival. His first book of cross-translated poems, The Coordinates Of Us won the prestigious Raza Foundation Grant after been shortlisted at IWrite2020 at Jaipur Literature Festival. Sanket’s poems have appeared in multiple anthologies such as Shape Of A Poem, The Well Earned, Home Anthology by Brown Critique, Poetry Conclave Yearbook as well as literary magazines such as Punch, Borderless, Muse India, Madras Courier, The Usawa Literary Review, Men Matters Online, Anthology by Querencia Press and many others.

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ALEX ‘ZENNY’ RICH – RED HOUSE FINCH

Alex ‘Zenny’ Rich (they/them) is a genderfluid writer and performing artist who likes to find the colour in the world. They explore themes of existentialism, neurodivergency and queerness. You can find more of their work on instagram @zenny.is.here

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KERI HAKAN – BIRD HOUSE

Keri Hakan was born and raised in the Midwest but has been home in Oregon since 2010. She holds a BA in English from Rockhurst University where she also minored in Philosophy. She completed a nutrition program in 2015 and is currently about to begin studying with the goal of becoming a registered nurse. Poetry flows through her no matter what or where she is in life. Keri is published in Windfall Journal, Tiny Seed Journal, Kosmos Journal, The Upper Left Edge paper, The Corvallis Advocate newspaper, and The Mindfulness Bell magazine. She has participated with her poetry in artists collaboration projects with The Elizabeth Jones Art Center in Portland, Oregon. She can be found at various Portland open mic poetry readings.

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JAMES PIATT – A CURTAL SONNET TO BIRDS

James, a retired professor and octogenarian, is a twice Best of Net nominee and three times Pushcart nominee. He has had five poetry books, The Silent Pond, Ancient Rhythms, LIGHT, Solace Between the Lines, and Serenity, five novels, thirty-five short stories, and over 1750 poems published in hundreds of national and international literary magazines, anthologies and books He earned his doctorate from BYU, and his BS and MA from California State Polytechnic University, SLO. He lives in Santa Ynez, California, with his wife Sandy, and a pup named Scout. His great aunt and uncle, Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt, and John James Piatt were prolific poets in the 1800s. Their poems motivated him to become a poet and influenced much of his style of poetry and many of his themes.

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TRAVIS STEPHENS – SAND BARGE BLUES

Travis Stephens is a tugboat captain who resides with his family in California. His book of poetry, “skeeter bit & still drunk” was published by Finishing Line Press in 2022. Visit him at: zolothstephenswriters.com

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TERRY BRINKMAN – AN EAGLE’S FLIGHT

Terry Has been painting for over forty five years. Poems in Rue Scribe, Tiny Seed. Winamop, Snapdragon Journal, Poets Choice, Adelaide Magazine, Variant, the Writing Disorder, Ink Pantry, In Parentheses, Ariel Chat, New Ulster, Glove, and in Pamp-le-mousse, North Dakota Quarterly, Barzakh, Urban Arts, Wingless Dreamer, LKMNDS and Elavation.

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ANDY BETZ – PERHAPS FOR A REASON

Andy Betz has tutored and taught in excess of 40 years. He lives in 1974 and has been married for 29 years. His works are found everywhere a search engine operates.

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GAVIN BOURKE – THE CROWS

Gavin Bourke grew up in the suburb of Tallaght in West Dublin. Married to Annemarie living in County Meath, he holds a B.A. in Humanities from Dublin City University, an M.A. Degree in Modern Drama Studies and a Higher Diploma in Information Studies from University College Dublin. His work broadly covers nature, time, memory, addiction, mental health, human relationships, the inner and outer life, creating meaning and purpose, politics, contemporary and historical social issues, injustice, the human situation, power and its abuse, absurdism, existentialisms, human psychology, cognition, emotion and behaviour, truth and deception, the sociological imagination, illness, socio-economics, disability, inclusivity, human life, selfishness and its consequences as well as urban and rural life, personal autonomy, ethics, commerce, science, grand schemes and the technological life in English and to a lesser extent in the Irish Language.



BRETT SALTER – MY DAUGHTER IS A TOUCAN

Brett’s background in writing stems mostly from the inspiration he found as a kid when he read Fantasy and Sci-Fi books. These include The Chronicles of Narnia, The Xanth Novels, The Time Quintet, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and everything from Shakespeare to Dr. Seuss. In his formative years, he joined several punk rock bands and wrote songs, poetry, and short stories aplenty. As an adult (?) he took on a dare and wrote the first book in his Talisman Series. He loved the feeling it gave him and the idea of inspiring others so much that he kept writing until he had an entire series. @Talismanbrett

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Congratulations to all the contributors who made it to our anthology. Good job.

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The book is now available to pre-order on our website. We will dispatch all the received orders from 15th February 2023 onwards. It will be soon available on Amazon.com.